I am sometimes stunned at the lessons imparted in seemingly light television.  On the surface, neither NBC's Smash nor ABC Family's Bunheads appealed to me, and yet over the last year, I have routinely tuned in and learned a lot.

When last week's network upfronts announced Smash is going off the air, I felt compelled to explain why I will miss this show.

Smash gives glimpses into my life as an actress in NYC: auditioning at Telsey + Co., rehearsals in various rooms around the city, and acting in shows on Fourth Street in the East Village.  I totally geeked out at that cameo from Frank Dilella of NY1's Onstage (a show deserving of an entire blog post in and of itself, if not a FringeNYC play in which I play Donna Karger)!

Last week's Smash episode about book writer Kyle's death truly touched me.  In flashback, he tells Debra Messing's character that he remembers when Wendy Wasserstein died and the lights dimmed on Broadway for her.  Later in that same episode, Christian Borle serrenades Kyle with Billy Joel's "Vienna" and thus captures a moment of a sage veteran warily encouraging a newcomer.

Then I had to Google Christian Borle.  I knew he won a Tony in 2012 for Peter and the Starcatcher, but I had no idea he was once married to the feisty Sutton Foster, who won the Tony in 2002 for Thoroughly Modern Millie.

If I hadn't seen Sutton Foster interviewed on NY1's Onstage or grinning on the Anything Goes marquee on 43rd Street, I doubt I would have bothered to watch her ABC Family sitcom about dancer's life in show business: Bunheads.

I am by no means a dancer, but my liberal arts education and its requisite dance classes have given me an appreciation for the dedication it takes to be a decent dancer, let alone a working one.  Indeed, this fresh-scrubbed tween comedy emphasizes how hard a life in show business can be.  Foster's character still has nightmares about auditioning!

The most shockingly smart moment of all in Bunhead's first season was when Foster re-choreographs the rat scene in The Nutcracker to reference Kurt Jooss' dance The Green Table.  Way to go!

So for all the doubters out there, I want to say: bravo to these theater-loving writers and performers.

In the words of Billy Joel's "Vienna":

You've got your passion, you've got your pride 
but don't you know that only fools are satisfied? 
Dream on, but don't imagine they'll all come true 
When will you realize, Vienna waits for you?

I live in the West 90s and there is a dearth of great movie theaters in my neighborhood.

Last year I blogged (was it really that long ago?) about my husband's Aunt Eileen's hamantaschen cookies, which she bakes for the Jewish holiday, Purim.  The triangular cookie is meant to represent the hat of this bad guy, Haman.

Aunt Eileen noted on Facebook that this year, Purim comes early (makes me think of that Parker Posey movie!).  A good friend at work also just gave me some beautiful apricot preserve, which happens to be my favorite filling in hamantaschen.  I see this as the stars aligning, telling me to make some of my own.

Here's the recipe I'm using, courtesy of Duff Goldman, a.k.a "Ace of Cakes."  He's a baker and a member of the tribe, so I'm going to trust he knows what he's doing.  Also: no sifting of flour required.  Phew.

I made the dough and chilled it in the fridge.  It tastes lemon-y and cookie-y and the whole apartment smells that way, too.  Ahhhh!

I love to bake.  Especially cookies.  My current cookie craving is my husband's Aunt Eileen's beautiful hamantashen for Purim every year, which arrived today in a USPS box.  I came home from the gym and jammed one in my mouth and it was divine.

What's a hamantash, you ask?  It's a triangular cookie with filling peeking out of the center.  Old school fillings include prune or poppy seeds, but my favorite is apricot jam.  The soft cookie dough has a slightly sweet and lemon-y flavor, like a very soft linzer cookie, minus the WASP-y name and confectioner's sugar.

I also love that the cookies are a kind of Jewish joke.  They're made for the Jewish holiday of Purim, and the cookies mock the tri-pointed hat of Haman, the villian in the Book of Esther.  Basically, it's a badass cookie that looks wholesome but has a bit of a sly sense of humor.  It's a cookie after my own heart.

Aunt Eileen, I'm coming over for a baking lesson!

This afternoon I hosted a viewing party for my new web series, Smart Actress and I am relieved to say it was a blast.

Right before the first episode crossed my television screen in my living room, in front of the cast, crew, and my husband, I got nervous.  I immediately think of every last thing I would change, if I could.

But seeing everyone's smiling faces, and hearing the immensely cheerful theme song (by Sweet Soubrette) once we hit play, I felt truly happy because it was out there, at last.  And then people laughed!  And applauded!  And hugged me and my co-creator, Sherry Locher!  Ahh, there's nothing better than hearing people laugh.

And then Brady Adair, one of my favorite people and star of Episode 2 (coming this Thursday, March 8!), gave me such a boost.  He said, "You're like Tina Fey, Jake!  You're a writer, producer and actor!"  I honestly could not think of a better person to whom I could aspire to emulate.

I love the mysterious little gift of a leap year: a whole extra day in an otherwise jam-packed month.

Last weekend we shot the majority of principle photography for the first five episodes of web series Smart Actress.  My co-creator, Sherry Locher, and I wore many hats: director, script supervisor, hair-fixer, and mother hen, feeding our actors and DP, David Schulder.  It was a blast, and over so quickly.

Tomorrow we shoot the remaining scenes, mostly between Sherry and me.  And then David begins editing and we will release an episode a week in March, starting March 1.  Holy cow, that's soon.

And I'm ramping up for my next stage production, Humans Anonymous.  Getting in paperwork to AEA, casting notices up and hundreds of actor submissions thus far, drawing the artwork for marketing materials, buying set pieces.  My list is long, but I love me a list.

Like I said, that extra day at the end of the month is a gift, and I'm going to keep hopping, skipping and leaping along.  It'll be here before I know it.

If the theme of my Jake Lipman blog is how my show business life is a series of funny juxtapositions, I have to talk about my love of solo shows.  The very name sounds like an oxymoron, right?  Solo.  Show.  A solo is something you do in privacy by yourself, and yet a show is public.  And great solo show is deceptively simple, but profoundly affecting.

Like my conversation tonight with a fellow solo show artist.  I had coffee with the amazingly talented actress/singer Sarah Aili.  We met because I produced two sections of her solo show, The Glory of Love, in my production company's Plus One Solo Show Festival, and we talked about her application to be in the New York International Fringe Festival.  She's launching a new website soon, but you can check her out on Twitter @sarahailimusic.

Sarah has an incredible voice and has the most joyful way about her.  Her solo show is a funny, musical rumination on her singing and acting life, which pays homage to her grandmother's borscht belt singer days.  It's honest and great theater, without any of the baggage people sometimes create in solo shows (and that ultimately give the genre a bad name).

I can't wait to see her show as she collaborates and develops it further and gets into the Fringe (I know in my gut it will!).  And talking with Sarah about her solo show made me feel entirely reinvigorated to jump into my next project, my web series Smart Actress.   Is the inverse of e pluribus unum also true?

My favorite things in life are always a juxtaposition of seemingly opposite traits: straight-laced on the surface, silly underneath.

If you are following me on twitter @jakelipman, my fan page on Facebook, or on my blog at www.JakeLipman.com, my posts are a mix of sweet and salty. That’s why people call me smart cookie. I am on-the-ball but in a warm, gooey kind of way.

To kick things off right for this blog, I’m going include my recipe for perfect chocolate chip meringues.

Whoah, Jake, meringues? Slow down. I’m no French pastry chef, here.

No sweat, they’re easy and yet look sophisticated. How do you like that juxtaposition?

Chocolate Chip Meringues
Ingredients:
2 egg whites
3/4 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (the mini ones are perfect for this!)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.
Separate the egg whites (this is the one tricky part, so keep the yolk intact to ensure it doesn’t taint the egg whites).
Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff, gradually adding in the sugar and vanilla.
Fold in chocolate chips (Feel free to customize with chopped nuts, other flavorings like mint, or butterscotch chips).
Drop by rounded teaspoon onto a cookie sheet lined with tinfoil.
Bake 22 minutes.
Let cool.

Yield: about two dozen.